NAVY AND GOLD: THROUGH AND THROUGH | ADAM BUNGE ’96 AND THE RELATIONSHIPS THAT BUILT A LIFE

Adam Bunge ’96 can still name every player on the Totino-Grace football team nearly thirty years later.

When Adam transferred to Totino-Grace High School as a sophomore, he walked into the building knowing almost no one. What he didn’t know then was that the relationships he would form in classrooms and on the sidelines would shape his life for decades, influencing everything from the name of his daughter to the way he leads a company of more than 100 employees today.

Adam quickly made an impact on the Eagles football program, but the program made an equally lasting impact on him. The brotherhood formed during that season extended far beyond Friday nights. Years later, defensive coordinator Bernie Litecky became the godfather to Adam’s firstborn daughter, Grace, fittingly named as an enduring tribute to the school that helped shape his life.

“The boys of ’96 were tight,” Adam recalls. “Those relationships just stuck.” That sense of connection extended well beyond athletics. In the classroom, Adam encountered teachers who challenged him academically while investing deeply in him as a person. Among them was beloved teacher and coach Ned Thompson, who taught Adam in a Calculus II class of just four students and also coached him in baseball. Adam still laughs that calculus provided unexpected real-world benefits, helping him successfully contest two speeding tickets.

Many teachers, including Tim Glynn, Karen Sweet, Mary Newmann, and religion teachers Mike Shimek and Kevin Ferdinandt, also left a deep impression. At the time, Adam simply felt supported. Only later did he understand what those relationships had truly taught him and how they helped form him.

“As a student, what you felt was being cared for,” Adam says. “But it isn’t until later that you realize how special that was, and how it continues to be part of your life.”

Asked about Totino-Grace’s lasting effect, Adam describes the experience in an unexpected way.

“Without even knowing it, you learn how to have intentional relationships,” he explains. “I feel like I was Miyagi’d, learning something before I knew what I was learning.”

The care shown by teachers and coaches did not end at graduation. Mentors like Coach Litecky have remained present in Adam’s life long afterward, reinforcing lessons that quietly became the foundation of his professional success.

Today, Adam is the founder of ideal3, an adjusting firm specializing in professional and general casualty claims in industries he personally enjoys, including music, sports, and live events. After spending twenty years practicing law at a firm in Chicago, Adam took a leap of faith to build something of his own.

Ideal3 has since grown to more than 100 employees, along with two sister companies. Despite graduating with honors as a football student-athlete from the University of North Dakota and earning a law degree from Northern Illinois University, Adam credits much of his leadership philosophy to lessons first learned at Totino-Grace.

“At the end of the day,” he says, “I’m in the relationship business.”

It’s a philosophy reflected in how he leads and whom he hires. Adam intentionally seeks out fellow Eagles when building his team, and today, eleven Totino-Grace alumni work alongside him.

The discussion-based learning and faith-centered formation Adam experienced at TG prepared him naturally for the Socratic method he later encountered in law school and professional life. Long before he realized it, religion and humanities courses had taught him how to listen, question thoughtfully, and build trust.

Looking back, Adam sees Totino-Grace not simply as preparation for college or career, but as preparation for life itself.

The sophomore who once arrived knowing no one left with something far greater: a foundation of relationships that continues to shape his life today. That spirit lives on in his family, his friendships, and the way he leads others.

For Adam Bunge, navy and gold is not just school pride.

It’s a lifelong bond.

"As a student, what you felt was being cared for, but it isn’t until later that you realize how special that was, and how it continues to be part of your life." - Adam Bunge ‘96